There was no way Tom Coughlin could treat this as a normal day, and so he gathered the Giants yesterday morning and immediately brought everyone up to speed on the Plaxico Burress situation, which he condensed into two raw emotions.

“There are two words I used,” Coughlin said. “One, disappointment, and two, sadness.”‘

Of course, there’s nothing normal about what the Giants have been through ever since Burress early Saturday morning accidentally put a bullet through his right thigh. Burress has been charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and if convicted faces a sentence of 31⁄2 to 15 years in jail. He’s been placed on the reserve/non-football injury list and suspended for the final four games of the season.

The Giants must have been relieved to get back to work inside their practice bubble, because Snee said, “That was the most enthusiastic practice I’ve been around” and linebacker Danny Clark added, “We were particularly sharp.”

A victory over the Eagles gives the Giants (11-1) the NFC East title and clinches a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Details of the shocking shooting incident surfaced on Saturday and one day later the Giants went out and spanked the Redskins 23-7 at FedEx Field, never missing a beat. There are absolutely no signs that the Giants, while concerned about Burress, are allowing this to ruin this special season.

“I’m going to be honest with you, as far as this locker room is concerned it is already a dead issue,” defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka said. “Our hearts are definitely with Plax . . . but as far as playing football I think we did a good job of showing last week that we can put stuff behind us.”‘

Burress faces a long legal battle. Antonio Pierce – also enmeshed in the mess, to an as-yet unknown degree – was on the scene and practiced as usual. He is expected to speak with the media today.

“I don’t really think he did anything wrong,”‘ running back Reuben Droughns said of Pierce. “I wasn’t there but I don’t think he was trying to hide anything. I think for the most part he was just being a teammate, he was more concerned about what was going on with a teammate than anything else.”

Certain subjects arise in a locker room as fodder for jokes and derision, but not this one. Not with Pierce. “We have not talked about any of that,”‘ linebacker Danny Clark said. “We leave it alone. It’s more taboo. He doesn’t bring it up and we don’t either.”‘

Moving on without Burress means Domenik Hixon is a full-time starter, but there’s little concern about his ability, considering the Giants this season are 3-0 with him working with the first-unit offense.

“Listen, he’s a great player,” Snee said of Burress. “To say we’re a better team without him, you can’t say that. But we still are a pretty darned good team.”

The locker assigned to Burress remained filled with his uniform and shoes, but he will not occupy it for quite some time, or perhaps not ever again. He was at the stadium on Tuesday but the suspension means he’s not allowed back on the premises. Eli Manning didn’t get the chance to see Burress that day but has sent test messages expressing his support.

“This is about one guy and a bad accident that occurred and no one wished this; no one thought this would happen,”‘ Manning said. “It’s unfortunate, but our thoughts are with Plaxico in his journey over the next weeks to months and what may happen to him.”

Their thoughts are with Burress, but the Giants are moving on without him.